


The Circle

by BloodWhitePanther



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Archery, Asexual Character, Asexual Raphael Santiago, Asexuality, Asexuality Spectrum, Best Friends, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Jace Wayland, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexuality, Canon Gay Character, Canon Gay Relationship, Canon Queer Character, Childhood Friends, Crack, Crack Relationships, Dating, Everyone is Poly Because Shadowhunters, F/M, Female Friendship, Femslash, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Gay Male Character, Het and Slash, Jace Wayland is a Herondale, Jealousy, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Character, Love Triangles, M/M, Magnus Bane Is A Freewheeling Bisexual, Male Friendship, Male Slash, Male-Female Friendship, Multi, Neighbors, Polyamory, Pre-Poly, Queer Character, Queer Themes, Step-Sibling Incest, Step-siblings, Teenage Drama, Video & Computer Games, everyone is poly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 06:17:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18845341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodWhitePanther/pseuds/BloodWhitePanther
Summary: Everyone is poly because Shadowhunters — the high school crack!fic AU that no one asked for.





	The Circle

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, settings and concepts belong to the legal copyright holders. This is a fanwork, and I have not profited financially from its creation or distribution.

The relationship begins with small, scattered groupings. The first romantic pairing consists of Magnus and Camille, who have been dating since grade school, and their dramatic breakups and makeups are truly legendary. It is during one of these breaks that Camille meets Raphael, taking him under her wing. When she and Magnus take up where they left off, they become an unlikely trio. No one is completely sure whether Raphael joins them as a friend, an underling or a lover, and if he is someone’s lover, it’s unclear which of them he takes to bed.

The whole school is watching with bated breath, eagerly awaiting clarity on the matter.

Likewise, they watch Alec and Isabelle Lightwood but more for the beauty than the drama. Alec is unusually cool and aloof for an adolescent, practicing archery every morning and afternoon in silent solitude. He refuses to get involved in the drama of high school, preferring to hold himself slightly above and apart from everyone but his beloved baby sister. Unlike her reclusive older brother, Isabelle is exceedingly talkative and popular. She and Meliorn rule the school together as queen and king, respectively.

Meanwhile, no one is watching Clary except Simon, who has been her closest friend since kindergarten. That is, no one else is watching her until the new guy transfers to the Institute in January. For unbeknownst to their classmates, Alec and Isabelle gained a new stepbrother over the Christmas holidays when Maryse Lightwood eloped with Céline Herondale.

Jace Herondale arrives one morning with Alec and Izzy, folding himself seamlessly into his stepsister’s clique, yet his orbit through the social circles is more oblique than hers, and he begins to attract stray satellites from nearby systems. Clary is the first to be drawn into the circle, followed closely by Simon, who invites his neighbour and fellow gamer Raphael to hang out with the group. Raphael and Simon are simultaneously captivated by Izzy although she notices Raph first.

Magnus seems unbothered by Raphael’s new friends, but Camille is apparently quite jealous. The power couple breaks up once more when Magnus follows Raphael to his new social circle. It isn’t until Isabelle wrestles her into submission in gym class that Camille accepts the budding romance between Isabelle and Raphael. Haughtily, she joins Isabelle as co-queens of the high school. Magnus and Camille get back together around the same time that Raph and Izzy make it official. No one knows for sure, but it seems likely that Izzy and Camille are both seeing Meliorn on the side.

When Jace finally succeeds in wooing Clary, who is still platonically joined at the hip with Simon, things become still more tangled than before. Izzy and Clary become besties, Camille and Meliorn get serious although she still seems to be seeing Magnus, who doesn’t get along very well with his new rival for her affections. Magnus spends more and more time with Raphael, and by consequence, Simon.

Alec is the last and most reluctant person to join their circle of friends, dragged in nearly kicking and screaming by his stepbrother because Jace is fed up with splitting his time between stepsiblings. And then, the magic happens because Alec finally meets Magnus and everything falls into place.

Alec takes up with Magnus who breaks it off with Camille once again. In turn, Camille convinces Meliorn to date her exclusively, prompting Isabelle to date Raph and Simon simultaneously as a form of social protest against monogamy. Clary becomes jealous of her bestfriends’ romantic entanglement and starts seeing Simon herself to even the scales. Jace, who is left waiting in the wings, begins a long-term campaign to seduce his stepbrother.

In the end, Magnus is dating Alec who is dating Jace who is dating Clary who is dating Simon who is dating Isabelle who is dating Raphael who’s been dating Camille again since Meliorn left for college. When Camille takes up with Magnus again, closing the circuit, it feels inevitable.

Their circle may consist of eight people — nine if you still count Meliorn — but together, they form one relationship.


End file.
